"President Assad ... has informed Annan that Syria approves the plan (the envoy) submitted but had made remarks about it," and pledged he would "spare no effort" to make it work, state news agency SANA reported.

It said Assad's remarks were made in a message to the world's emerging powers meeting on Thursday in New Delhi.

Peace train ... The special envoy for the UN and Arab league, Kofi Annan. Photo: Getty

Annan's plan calls for a halt to violence, daily two-hour humanitarian truce, media access to areas of fighting, for political dialogue, the right to demonstrate and the release of detainees.

The United States was unimpressed by Assad's comments.

Advertisement

"We've seen absolutely nothing on the ground that indicates that they're adhering to its calls for Syrian artillery and heavy weaponry to go back to barracks and for a ceasefire," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

"We want to see an end to the violence as soon as possible so that we can get humanitarian assistance in to the beleaguered Syrian people," he said.

A UN spokesman, meanwhile, said at the end of a Syrian government-led assessment mission to the country that at least one million Syrians needed humanitarian assistance.

Eight UN experts and three from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) took part in the tour which ended on Monday.

"The joint analysis of the OIC and UN indicates that at least one million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance," said deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey.

At a summit in Baghdad, Arab leaders approved a resolution calling for an end to the government's brutal crackdown, for the opposition to unite and for parties to the conflict to launch a "serious national dialogue."

A warning from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki against arming the parties to the conflict highlighted the split in the 22-member Arab League.

While hardliners Qatar and Saudi Arabia have called for Assad to step down and for rebels opposing his regime to be supplied with weapons, others including Iraq have been pushing for a political reconciliation.

"Based on our experience in Iraq, the option to arm either side of the conflict will lead to a regional and international proxy war in Syria," Maliki warned in his speech to Arab leaders.

Also in the Iraqi capital, UN chief Ban Ki-moon called for Syrian authorities to implement Annan's plan. "The world is waiting for commitments to be translated into action. The key here is implementation. There is no time to waste," he said.

The world's emerging powers, meanwhile, said at a summit in New Delhi that dialogue was the only answer to the crises in both Syria and Iran.

Leaders of BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - issued a pre-emptive warning against any military action by the West or Israel to end the unrest in Syria or the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

"We agreed that a lasting solution in Syria and Iran can only be found through dialogue," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

On the ground, clashes across Syria killed at least 26 people on Thursday, mostly civilians.

Five civilians died as regime forces stormed villages near Maaret al-Numan in northwestern Idlib province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Three soldiers also died.

Six other civilians as well as two regime forces and an armed rebel were killed in fighting in central Homs province.

Five people died in nearby Hama province along with three soldiers who were killed when their vehicle came under attack by armed rebels, the Britain-based group said.

It said an army colonel was assassinated by armed men in the northern city of Aleppo.

Reporters Without Borders said two freelance journalists, including a Briton of Algerian origin, were shot dead by Syrian forces earlier this week on the border with Turkey.